This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.

Beginning with the 1970s, Duel, Jaws and more..

The boy is planning something.

Sadly for Spielberg, the plot was only a partial success.

Spielberg wanted perhaps more appropriately, he needed to fit in, to feel accepted.

Being a Jew meant that I was not normal.

I was not like everybody else, Spielberg has recalled.

I just wanted to be accepted.

Not for who I was.

I wanted to be accepted for who everybody else was.

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Entertainment was Spielbergs escape.

Its why film-making in particular appealed.

So his early childhood films were more than simple creative outputs.

Critically, they gave him something else, something he rarely felt as a minority: power.

While casting his war movieEscape To Nowhere, Spielberg was suffering at the hands of a particularly nasty bully.

He would be perfect for a role in the movie, and so Spielberg invited him to take part.

It was an inspired move, both for the film and Spielbergs relationship with him.

I had learned that film was power.

It was a lesson Steven would never forget.

Even the Third Reich is dismissed as a troublesome bully by Indiana Jones inLast Crusade.

He hates those guys.

The anger is at its fiercest in Spielbergs 70s films.

Suddenly, he realises he has no power.

Hes living in a cartoon vision of the world and it can only end one way.

JawsandDuelexplore issues of power in much more direct and much less ambiguous ways.

Mann by name, weakling by nature.

But thats very much Spielbergs point;Duelis about masculine power.

Jawsis the same, though the masculine power here isnt just represented by the monster but by Quint.

Hes stronger, smarter, better than everyone else.

The bullying Spielberg criticises in Quint also appears in Amitys Mayor, Larry Vaughn.

Brodys victory comes in the hospital later on.

Vaughn realises the error of his ways and now Brody is the one dominating a tight close-up.

In the context of Spielbergs childhood struggles to fit in, this seems particularly pertinent.

Even when a minority has been chosen, those with the power in America refuse to let them belong.

Its here that Spielberg delivers his most damning critique of American power and masculinity.

The focus here falls on young dishwasher Wally, whos using the event to try and impress girl-of-his-dreams Betty.

Its the Spielbergian wimpy hero once again outfoxing the bully.

Yet the sequence ends on a low note, with Stretch winning.

It remains a bit of an aberration in Spielbergs career, but also a perfect representation of it.

Sometimes the power remains with the powerful.

There were Nazis to beat and a lost ark to be raided.

Part two of this new series will be with you tomorrow…